Detail: It is at the end of the Nara period that tea was introduced to Japan from China. During the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, the custom of drinking tea became popular, and items from China, called karamono, were valued as tea utensils. During the Momoyama period, as wabicha became popular, kōrai jawan (Korean tea bowls) and wamono (Japanese vessels) also became popular, but even into the Edo period, karamono were prized as tea utensils and ceremonial items by the samurai family. This exhibition will explore the role karamono played as well as its development in the formation of estheticism of the world of cha no yu.